Storage devices commonly implement data backup operations (e.g., conventional backup, deduplication) using virtual storage products for data recovery. Some virtual storage products have multiple backend storage devices that are virtualized so that the storage appears to a client as a discrete storage devices, while the backup operations may store data across one or more of the physical storage devices. When the client reads and/or writes (or “accesses”) data from a virtual storage device (e.g., during backup and/or restore operations), that data may need to be accessed across more than one of the physical storage devices. In order to move data from one physical storage product to another, the virtual storage product may include backend connections to all of the physical storage devices, e.g., an inter-device local area network (LAN).
Communications that are facilitated over the inter-device LAN are slower than direct connections, and may unacceptably degrade performance. In addition, scaling the virtual storage product is limited by the inter-device LAN. That is, additional physical storage devices can only be added to the extent those devices are supported by the existing infrastructure (e.g., the inter-device LAN) without complex and costly upgrades.